Sports: For Women Too.

Sports and athletics are both an important part of every culture across the globe. Travel to any place and you will easily find both men, women, adults and children engaging in some sort of sport.  So why is there a higher value on men playing sports than women? With all of the physical, social, and emotional benefit of sports, why is there so much stigma attached to women playing at the professional level? Women will always be less than, not as good as, and weaker than men.

However, there have been recent movements in women's sporting equality. The formations of a national women's soccer team, the government actions bringing in the Title Nine movement, and big company campaigns supporting women athletics have brought women out of the dark, but there is still a ways to go. According to Jean Cassel of Livestrong, "male athletes get $179 dollars more in scholarships each year than females do." And colleges, on average, spend only one fourth of their collegiate athletic budget on women's athletics. The simple fact is, female athletes are looked down upon. Many of the world's best female athletes are virtually unknown and unrecognized. The Olympics brings about some recognition for women, but not as much as they deserve. This is what the girls in the book, "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" worked for. Title Nine was put in place to give women equal opportunities in athletics and to stop gender discrimination. The object of this is to make sure any government funded institution is supporting women and in compliance with their "no discrimination" policy. There may be ways to beat the system, but at least there is a system put in place. That's more than there was twonty years ago.

Another interesting point Cassel makes in his article is about how men's and women's sports are set apart verbally. Language is important in the impressions it brings. If you think about the different sporting leagues, The NBA and WNBA, the LPGA and PGA, the WTA and ATP. Men's sports are not defined by gender. The effect of defining women's sports by gender makes them seem like oddities and against the norm. As Sarah Spain says in her ESPN article, women are just looking for respect. You can see from a quick google search of women sports, that female athletes are recognized not for their ability or talent, but for their looks. The google search brings up links to the "hottest female athletes" before anything else. Where is the respect in that? Athletes want to be recognized for their talent, not treated like cheerleaders for men's sports. The book "Friday Night Lights" only recognizes the girls that serve the boys football team, the "pepettes."

Women's sports have come far, but still have a ways to go. Recognition of women should be higher and more celebrated, great female athletes shouldn't have to worry that because they excel at sports that they will be seen as a lesbian. That sort of stigma is unfair and uncalled for.




http://espn.go.com/espnw/commentary/8191225/women-battling-equality-sports
http://www.livestrong.com/article/247625-gender-discrimination-in-sports/